Superior stable high-voltage LiCoO2 enabled by modification with a layer of lithiated polyvinylidene fluoride-derived LiF

High-voltage LiCoO₂ (LCO) can deliver a high capacity and therefore significantly boost the energy density of Li-ion batteries (LIBs). However, its cyclability is still a major problem in terms of commercial applications. Herein, we propose a simple but effective method to greatly improve the high-voltage cyclability of an LCO cathode by constructing a surface LiF modification layer via pyrolysis of the lithiated polyvinylidene fluoride (Li-PVDF) coating under air atmosphere. Benefitting from the good film-forming and strong adhesion ability of Li-PVDF, the thus-obtained LiF layer is uniform, dense, and conformal; therefore, it is capable of acting as a barrier layer to effectively protect the LCO surface from direct exposure to the electrolyte, thus suppressing the interfacial side reactions and surface structure deterioration. Consequently, the high-voltage stability of the LCO electrode is significantly enhanced. Under a high charge cutoff voltage of 4.6 V, the LiF-modified LCO (LiF@LCO) cathode demonstrates a high capacity of 201 mA h g⁻¹ at 0.1 C and a stable cycling performance at 0.5 C with 80.5% capacity retention after 700 cycles, outperforming the vast majority of high-voltage LCO cathodes reported so far.